Pistol shooting

[Draxen]

Hello!

During the last year, I've started to gain interest in firearms in general. How they work, how people compete and so on. My stepbrother who is in the army in his spare time is a part of the board in our local shooting club. He invited me one day to try it out.

I have never ever in my life, held a real weapon. The closest I've gotten must be a nerf gun... I started by trying a .22 pistol. It was a lot of fun, then I stepped up and tried a 9mm Glock (don't remember if it was a Glock 17 or 20). And wow! That power! And I thought that was cool, then I got to try his Magnum 357, HOLY SHIT. That power was something I've never experienced before, He even told me before I fired, to hold it correctly because if I didn't, I could blow off my finger.

So this whole experience was amazing, when I came home I did some research what it would cost and how to join a club. So I started to save up some money.


Here I am now, my trainee course starts in May and once that is completed, I can buy my own .22 pistol.


My question to you, are you involved in any shooting club? What kind of competition do you like (precision, speed and so on)?

 

[JC Denton]

does airsoft count

 

[Draxen]

I was thinking about real weapons.

 

[Photon]

Guns are pretty fun, you say you live in Sweden so the European gun laws you guys have must be shit, but take what you can get. I live in NYC so our gun laws are absolute dogshit, worse than yours probably. I've gone shooting several times in other states so I'm not in a club. Your brother was smart about teaching you how to hold the .357 magnum revolver properly, if you leave your fingers on the gap between the cylinder and barrel, things would not end very well for you. What .22 pistol are you planning on getting?

 

[JC Denton]

well us britbong shidheads cant have pistols

 

[Draxen]

Yeah, the laws are what they are... I'm thinking about the Ruger SR22, so I can use that for practice. 6 months after I get my first .22 I'm allowed to buy any pistol. And then I'm thinking about a Glock.

 

[Misel]

Well I play counter strike and i thought IEM Katowice was interesting

 

[JC Denton]

well i get to shoot glocks in my job

 

[Bnjemann]

Pistol shooting is VERY illegal in mainland UK so unfortunately I can't.

Unless I use air pistols however, which I plan on going to some shooting sports events in the UK

 

[Misel]

@Draxen du måste ju ha Malmö blod i dig, springer runt med Glock och allt. Det ända som saknas är skottsäker väst

 

[Draxen]

So you can not go to a shooting club or any designated areas for practice shooting?

 

[Bnjemann]

The olympic pistol shooting team had to travel to ireland just to practice...

 

[Seamus]

Nope, after Dublane a lot of guns were restricted by Tony Blair. Funnily enough, if you screw on a stock and extended barrel it becomes a rifle by law.

 

[Misel]

@Saint Wylde Do like Malmö just buy a Glock and some kevlar and shoot people.

 

[Robin Ljungberg]

@Misel sluta nu, kommer efter jobb o skjuter ner dig med min glock 30

 

[Jimmy]

I'd like to try shooting myself one day but UK

 

[John Daymon]

Ett skämt o klaga på våra lagar kring vapen, finns en anledning till dödsskjutningarna i USA

 

[Testa]

UK problems. Perhaps can ask my Albanian neighbors if they got connections.

 

[Mxdium]

I once shot 9mm and .45 blanks and shot a 22 long rifle. Its fun

 

[Bnjemann]

The only "true" handguns you can shoot in mainland UK are "Humane dispach" Pistols, which are pistols modified to only hold 1 .32 round for dispatching wounded deer, and Blackpowder pistols. A semi automatic handgun chambered in .22 rimfire can be owned under a section 1 firearms license should it be adapted in a manner that makes it unconcealable. An example can be found here:

Note the suppressor and the anal probe looking "stock". The suppressor and "Stock" are welded to the gun. This is an M1911 chambered in .22 rimfire.

Another "Legal" handgun available to the UK Mainland gun market is the "Dispatching" pistol. A single shot pistol or a pistol modified in a manner that inhibits more than 1 round being loaded inside the gun at one time. These are only available to a specific demographic of person. These are limited to:

• farmers
• Horse sports event organisers
• Large game hunters.

So for recreational shooters these pistols are COMPLETELY off the charts for them. These pistols look something like this:

Currently the most popular alternative to handguns in the UK Are blackpowder / nitro "Muzzle loaders".

Its worth noting that the majority of gun crime that occurs in the UK occurs with Antique and Replica firearms and there has only been a handful of incidents where a legal gun owner has gone on a mass shooting or committed a violent crime with there legal guns, and almost every major incident involving firearms in the UK led to stricter restrictions being imposed, whether the gun was legal or not.

In 1903, the Pistols act came into force in parliament that brought up the need to purchase a license before buying a handgun, and restricted the sale of handguns to over 18's only. (Meaning in 1903 anyone could literally buy a pistol). This law did not stop the private resale of firearms and handguns. In 1937, "Self defence" and "defence of your home" was no longer deemed a valid reason to possess a firearm, and automatic weapons became restricted for any non military organisation (including the police).

Jump forward to 1997, when the Dunblane massacre happened. A man walked into a school armed with a handgun, severed phone wires and shot at multiple people, killing 16. When this happened, The 1997 firearms act was bought into power, where any handgun firing from a self contained cartridge effectively became illegal in the mainland UK. This act is so strict that even our olympic and paralympic pistol teams had to leave mainland UK just to practice for the olympics.

Not only has this led to legal repercussions for legal gun owners, but its created a completely understandable social stigma regarding gun owners in the UK and even owners of replica firearms and air weapons are stigmatized by there hobbies. If you live in an urban or suburban area of Britain and wish to get into shooting for sport or recreational purposes, Its best you keep your hobby to yourself as people in England are so sensitive about weapons that simply saying you own one will raise eyebrows. Well, this depends where you're from, but mostly in suburban areas its frowned upon and in urban areas might draw in the wrong kind of attention, especially from crooks. I've had mates who posted photos of there post-UKARA airsoft gun collection and had the guns stolen by thieves who wish to use them for criminal purposes.

Here's an overlook of other guns that are legal in England: